The Department of Defense completed a test flight for an unmanned Black Hawk helicopter earlier this month.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System program and retrofitted the UH-60A Black Hawk Helicopter with Sikorsky MATRIX autonomy technologies that allowed the uninhabited chopper to fly for half an hour without a pilot.
The agency ran a successful test at the U.S. Army installation at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on Feb. 5 and ran another one two days later.
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“With reduced workloads pilots can focus on mission management instead of the mechanics,” said Stuart Young, program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office. “This unique combination of autonomy software and hardware will make flying both smarter and safer.”
The Black Hawk, before takeoff, completed a pre-flight checklist, started the engines and rotors and took off fully autonomously before it navigated a “typical speed and altitude through a simulated cityscape, avoiding imagined buildings while route re-planning in real time,” according to a statement from Lockheed Martin, which owns Sikorsky.
It then executed a series of maneuvers and pedal turns before what Lockheed described as “a perfect landing.”
“This capability will allow pilots to confidently switch back and forth between autonomy and piloted modes at any point of their mission with the literal flip of a switch,” said Benjamin Williamson, lead test pilot for the Fort Campbell event. “This will support autonomous flight during a wide range of missions such as flight in degraded visual environments (DVE) and confined areas. Most critically, ALIAS will be capable of automatically detecting and preventing dangerous situations that lead to accidents, thereby saving lives.”
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“With ALIAS, the Army will have much more operational flexibility,” Young said. “This includes the ability to operate aircraft at all times of the day or night, with and without pilots, and in a variety of difficult conditions, such as contested, congested, and degraded visual environments.”
